Frantic Search for Relatives Lost in Floods

An aerial view of the damage caused by floods in Uttarakhand, June 18.

Shweta Sahni has been trying to contact five members of her family, including three children, who had gone on a pilgrimage to the temple town of Kedarnath in north India.

She hasn’t succeeded.

“They were in Kedarnath when we last spoke to them on Saturday. Their phones have been not reachable since then,” Ms. Sahni said of her sister, brother-in-law and their three girls, aged 6, 9 and 12.

“We are clueless about their health and living conditions,” she said.

Kedarnath is a popular pilgrimage site in Uttarakhand, the north Indian state hardest hit by floods and landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains that arrived Saturday. State authorities say 72 people are dead, 38 are missing and thousands are stranded.

“The government has not yet been able to determine exact figures on the number of deaths, injuries, and missing persons due to lack of connectivity with the flood-affected areas,” Anil Chandola, a spokesman for the Uttarakhand government, told The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time Thursday.

The central government has deployed more than 25,000 soldiers and 24 Air Force helicopters to assist with rescue efforts in Uttarakhand and the neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh, where authorities say at least 15 people have been killed in landslides since Saturday.

In Uttarakhand, the government has made arrangements to airdrop food packets and medicines on villages cut off by the rains, Mr. Chandola said earlier this week. He estimated that more than 22,000 people have been rescued but around 60,000 remain stranded.

Many of these people are pilgrims who were visiting religious sites in the area. Every year, people trek to four shrines — Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri — as part of the Char Dham pilgrimage. From May to October, Kedarnath Temple alone receives around 5,000 pilgrims a day, temple authorities say.

“My father, mother and grandparents have been missing. The helpline has been either out of reach or busy. There’s no information about them,” said Alka Gautam, a 38-year-old marketing executive from New Delhi.

Ms. Gautam said she is at the airport in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, waiting for information about her mother, father and grandparents. Air Force helicopters are evacuating people to the airport, while others are also being brought there by bus.

The Uttarakhand government has set up three helpline numbers: 0135-2710334, 2710335, 2710233.

Suraj Sharma, a tour operator based in Dehradun, said he has been trying without success to contact tour guides from his company in Kedarnath and Badrinath.

“The families of the tourists are worried and calling us, but we don’t know what to tell them… Telecom services have been disrupted and mobile phones are not working,” he said.

Satyavrat Bansal, director general of police in Uttarakhand, said officials are trying to restore communication networks in Kedarnath and surrounding areas “to get continuous information and provide necessary assistance.”

Atul Tomar said he has been frantically calling local helpline numbers for three days trying to get news about four members of his family. They were traveling to Kedarnath and have been missing since Sunday, said the 46-year-old businessman from the state of Uttar Pradesh.

“From what I have heard from friends, thousands of people have died from floods or the cold weather,” Mr. Tomar said. “I am praying for my family,” he added.

Anand Sharma, director of Dehradun’s meteorological center, said the rains have eased since Tuesday. “The situation is already improving. The water level too has started reducing,”

“There will be slight rainfall at a few places [in Uttarakhand] over the next two days,” Mr. Sharma added.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.